Saturday, June 25, 2011

4th of July Necklace Shirt

Painting a necklace on a shirt is certainly not a new idea. I've seen these cute shirts everywhere. I remembered that I made this type of tank for my daughter to wear on 4th of July last year. The red and blue painted necklaces were perfect for the holiday. I used red fabric paint to outline a felt star with dots and then hand stitched it to the shirt.

﻿We were in San Diego last year on the 4th. Unfortunately the only picture I have of my daughter wearing the shirt is ﻿of her using the handrail at the zoo to swing like a monkey.

I'm sure the top still fits her but it probably could use a little length. I plan on adding a few ruffles to the bottom for a festive tunic she can wear this year with leggings.

A couple of years ago I started making my daughter shirts and tanks with painted necklaces. I found an easy tutorial online somewhere but can't remember the source. I apologize if it was from you! You can use a variety of fabric paints to create the necklaces. Initially I was using Tulip's dimensional fabric﻿ paint but later started using Tulip's soft fabric paint. I started by ironing a crease down the middle of my shirt as a guide. I slid a piece of cardboard inside the shirt to make sure the paint did not bleed to the back. I used the back of a pen to create the beads on the smaller necklace by simply dipping the pen in the paint and gently stamping it on the shirt. I started in the middle and worked my way to the neckline for half of the necklace strand. I repeated on the other side to complete the first strand. I used the back of a large marker to paint the larger beads. The necklace can be left plain or embellished.

I pulled out some old pictures of necklace onesies I've made in the past.

Last year Jessica planned to dye a onesie from white to black. She ended up with a steel grey instead of black. You can read about her experience with fabric dye in her Wednesday Wowzer post here. She asked if I could turn her onesie into something cute so I added a white necklace and pretty flower embellishment. I love the white beads on the darker fabric!

Remember that these can be done on long sleeve shirts too. Last year my daughter wore her pink necklace shirt a lot. I hand stitched a red and pink striped bow to the corner. It was incredibly easy and dressed up an otherwise plain pink shirt!

I'm sure older girls would have a blast making these at a birthday party!

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